Men's Track & Field

Track and Field Second, Fifth at Wheaton Invitational

NORTON, MA-The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's indoor track and field teams acquitted themselves well at the Wheaton Invitational at the Beard Field House Saturday.

The men finished second in a 10-team field, losing to host Wheaton by a single point, 119-118. The women finished fifth of 12 teams with 34 points, seven points behind fourth-place Brandeis and 13 points ahead of sixth-place Salem State. The host Lyons were first with 207 points.

The men took three of the top four spots in the mile, with junior Tim Whelan (Abington, MA/Abington HS) finishing first in 4:30.38, freshman Kevin Gilmore (Hanson, MA/Whitman-Hanson HS) second in 4:33.42, and junior Derek Stevens (Swampscott, MA/Swampscott HS) fourth in 4:35.61. Whelan and Stevens ran in the unseeded heat, and Gilmore ran in the seeded heat. Stevens had to run the last 600 yards with one shoe after losing a shoe with three laps remaining. Graduate student Eric Holmes (Abington, MA/Abington HS) was first at 800 meters in 1:59.54, while junior Erik Gonzalez (Methuen, MA/Methuen HS) was fourth in 2:02.47. Sophomore Kevin Markie (North Attleboro, MA/Nichols) won the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet, 1 ¼ inches, while senior Jimmy Knuuttila (Lunenburg, MA/Lunenburg HS) took the high jump at 5-6. In the 55 meter hurdles, sophomore Nick Deininger (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro HS) was second in 8.31 seconds, sophomore Marcus Williams (Worcester, MA/Doherty HS) was third in 8.38 and sophomore Jeff Beal (Townsend, MA/North Middlesex HS) fourth at 8.46. The distance medley relay team of Whelan, Gonzalez, Holmes and Gilmore came from behind to win in 11:07.76. Wheaton won the final event, the 4 x 400 meter relay, to clinch first place in the meet.

"Our men came in with a goal of being able to compete for first place, and I was pleased that we were in a position where it came down to the last relay at the end of the meet," said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach Steve Gardiner. "I was pleased with our performance, and our enthusiasm. This is a step forward for us, and it's good to have the mind set that you are going into a meet with a chance to win. Our women are also progressing. We have some good individual performances every week,, but Wheaton is one of the best Division III teams in the country. Our women gave us a good effort, and I'm proud of them as well."

The Corsairs will return to action when they travel to Tufts next Saturday.